The New England Journal of Medicine: commercial conflict of interest and revisiting the Vioxx scandal

Abstract

At a recent cardiology conference in New Delhi, the cardiologist Deepak Natarajan raised the concern that commercial conflicts of interest were corrupting medical journals. Natarajan cited “manipulated” publications in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) as one example to support his view. His comments were met with silence and an air of indignation. Natarajan’s medical colleagues were stunned, disbelieving, and then, angry.